The present invention relates generally to the field of printing, and more particularly, the field of printing digital images onto a photosensitive media.
Traditional methods of printing images from a developed roll of film onto a photosensitive media comprises passing a strip of developed film through an exposure gate where the images on the film are exposed onto a photosensitive media, such as photographic paper. Each image on the film is exposed individually, one at a time, in the sequence dictated by the location of the image on the strip of film. Quite often many photofinishing labs promote and provide a second print of each of the images contained on the customer order. This is accomplished by printing each image twice successively until the entire customer image order has been processed. A disadvantage of this is that both sets of prints are packaged inter-mixed, thus requiring the customer to manually sort one set from the second set.
There has been suggested the providing of photographic prints using digital printing techniques. Such prior art digital printing devices may allow for the ability to preview and edit all images on a roll of developed film. This is typically accomplished using a low resolution scan of the images. Once the edits are performed, the negative film is rescanned at a higher scan resolution, one image at a time, and then sequentially exposed onto photographic paper. There is no buffering of the entire set of images of a customer image order at the higher resolution. This means that if more than one copy of the image is to be provided for the entire customer image order, all copies of the images must be either printed at the same time, or the entire roll rescanned at the higher resolution, and reprinted for each copy, both of which provide undesirable results for the consumer.
An advanced photographic system (APS) exists whereby customers can select for printing from one of several print format sizes. For example, a consumer may select PAN format size, which typically produces a 4R print size of approximately 4 inchesxc3x9711.5 inches, an H format size (portrait), which typically produces a 4R print size of approximately 4 inchesxc3x977 inches, and a C format size (standard), which produces a 4R print size of approximately 4 inchesxc3x976 inches. Quite often, these images are interspersed on a single roll of photographic film. In current printing technologies each of these images are printed in the sequence they are provided on the film. Since these different format size images are interspersed on the film, the prints produced therefrom are also interspersed. This can cause difficulties in producing the prints and inconvenient for the customer to view and separate. One suggested solution in the prior art is the providing of an optical printer which allows the larger print sizes to be printed first and then the smaller print size until all the images have been printed. However, a serious disadvantage with this type of prior art optical printer is that the film is required to be rewound and repositioned at the exposure gate for each successive print size. This substantially reduces the speed and efficiency of the apparatus in addition to requiring additional wear and tear on the apparatus.
Thus, there is a need to provide an apparatus providing prints of different format sizes that can be easily sorted and packaged. There is also a need for providing printing sequences in a sequence which is beneficial to the consumer when the consumer receives the images.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for printing customer image orders, each containing a plurality of images, comprising the steps of:
a) obtaining a digital record of a customer image order containing a plurality of images in a predefined sequence;
b) arranging a printing sequence based on a predetermined criteria which is different from the predefined sequence; and
c) printing the plurality of images onto a media in accordance with the printing sequence.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of printing customer image orders, each containing a plurality of digitally captured images, comprising;
a) scanning a strip of photosensitive material having a plurality of images of a customer image order;
b) producing a digital record of the plurality of images of the customer image order based on the scanning of the strip of the photosensitive material;
c) arranging a printing sequence based on a predetermined criteria which is different from the sequence produced by scanning the strip of photosensitive material; and
d) printing the plurality of images on a medium in accordance with the printing sequence.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for printing customer image orders, each containing a plurality of images, comprising:
a scanner for scanning a strip of photosensitive material containing the plurality of images for the customer image order;
a memory for at least temporarily storing the plurality images obtained by the scanner;
means for creating a printing sequence based on a predetermined criteria which is different from the sequence produced by the scanner; and
a digital printer for printing the plurality of images of the customer image order on the media in accordance with the printing sequence.
In still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer program thereon, which when loaded into a computer, causes the computer to perform the following steps:
arranging a printing sequence of a plurality of images in a customer image order based on the predetermined criteria which is different from the sequence in which the plurality of images were originally provided; and
providing the plurality of images to the printer for printing of the images in accordance with the printing sequence.
The above, and other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying detailed description thereof when considered in conjunction with the following drawings.